Endgrained: Martino Gamper
Objectspace
Format: Exhibition Publication
Publisher: Objectspace
Art Director: Practice Design
Size: Variable format with dust jacket
Extent: 92 pages plus 4-page cover and jacket
Cover: 230gsm Mondi IQ Colour Medium Blue, digitally printed full colour inside and out
Paper: Mixed stocks including 80gsm Wheki Cream Book Paper, 130gsm Gloss Art Paper, 80gsm Mondi IQ Colour Medium Blue, and 80gsm Mondi IQ Colour Medium Green
Binding: Box-bound saddle stitch with square spine
Printing: High-resolution inkjet printing by Touchprint, Wellington
Published by Objectspace to accompany Endgrained, this richly layered publication explores the work of Italian designer Martino Gamper and his ongoing fascination with timber as both material and cultural artefact. The exhibition transformed Objectspace into a social environment shaped by visitors, centred around a new body of furniture designed to encourage gathering, conversation, play, and collective use.
The publication extends these ideas through documentation of the exhibition and Wood from the trees, a collaborative research project developed by Gamper, Objectspace, and designers James Goggin and Shan James of Practise. Drawing on archival material, journals, photographs, and timber collections from across Aotearoa, the project traces the histories and transformations of wood as it moves from ecological resource to designed object. Together, the exhibition and publication reflect on material culture, collective memory, and the enduring relationship between people and timber.
Endgrained embraces material variation as an integral part of its design. Rather than relying on a single paper stock, the publication is constructed from a carefully sequenced combination of coloured, coated, and uncoated papers that create shifts in texture, weight, and tone throughout the reading experience.
The cover is printed on 230gsm Mondi IQ Colour Medium Blue, establishing the publication's distinctive palette from the outset. Internally, sections alternate between 80gsm Wheki Cream Book Paper, 130gsm Gloss Art Paper, and coloured Mondi IQ stocks in Medium Blue and Medium Green, allowing different content types to be differentiated through material choices as well as graphic design. High-resolution inkjet printing ensures consistent colour reproduction across the diverse substrates, while the box-bound saddle stitch construction creates a square spine that combines the flexibility of a stitched publication with the presence of a bound catalogue. The result is a publication that reflects the experimental and materially driven nature of Gamper's practice.